PART FIVE

That night, nothing had come up. So Buffy went patrolling. She was feeling much better than before. At least her sinuses didn’t feel so awful and her headache was gone. The cough had gotten less violent, too. Her Slayer powers must have been kicking in, finally.

She decided to make two passes in Weatherly Park that night. The first pass produced nothing. But during the second pass, she heard a scream.

Following it, she ran down the path to the basketball court. She saw several players backing away from the far-left corner of the court. Finally, they took off running.

Buffy saw what had frightened them. It was a male vampire. He had a teenager, probably one of the players, caught in his chokehold. The vampire had transformed and now bared his fangs at the poor guy. He bent down toward his neck, and the teen started screaming and squirmed more violently.

"Hey!" Buffy called.

The vampire looked up from his meal. "Slayer," he hissed.

So he knows who I am, Buffy thought. That doesn’t make him any less of a dunce.

The vampire threw the teen onto the concert asphalt. The teen scrambled up and ran away.

"I've been waiting for you, Slayer," the vampire said.

"Oh, really?"

The two began to circle each other. Buffy watched him warily, stake in hand. The vampire seemed to be enjoying it. He smiled.

Buffy ran out of patience. "Are we going to fight or what?"

"Actually, no," another voice said.

Keeping one eye on the vampire, Buffy glanced into the woods and saw a dark figure step out. He stepped into the artificial lighting above the basketball court.

He was about five feet eight inches, with graying brown hair and was at least fifty-something.

"Hello, Slayer," the mystery man greeted.

"I did what you wanted," the vampire said. "Now when do I get my pay?"

"Right now, actually," the mystery man replied. Buffy recognized a British Accent similar to Giles' own. "You get to die." He waved his hand and the vampire burst into flames. The vampire ran off screaming, reaching the edge of the court before turning to dust.

Buffy turned to the mystery man and got in a defensive position. "Who are you?"

"Let's just say, I'm an old friend." He laughed.

He took a step toward her. Buffy took a step back and slipped. When she tried to get up, she started coughing again, this time much more violently than before.

The man laughed again. "Feeling bad, Summers? Do you feel weak? Do you feel like all your strength is draining from you?"

Buffy tried to tell him off, but ended up throwing up instead. She felt so sick.

Finally, she managed to stand back up and backed away. "What did you do to me and Giles?"

"I only made you sick. It won't kill you. It'll just make you wish you were dead. But I'd rather not wait until you're as sick as your former watcher. Instead, I want you conscious while you die."

"Been there, done that," Buffy said, trying to sound strong when she felt so weak.

"Yes, you did, didn't you? Another Slayer was called, yes? The first one died, which is such a pity. Kendra really was good at following orders. And Faith, well Faith's in the hospital in a coma, correct? Don't worry. She'll be as dead as you will be in the morning. And I don't even have to go near her. I only need the blood of one Slayer to end the chain of slayers forever."

"What do you mean?"

"You wish to know my evil plan, is that it? Very well. But instead of telling you, I think I'll show you."

He mumbled something in Latin. Buffy stopped moving, paralyzed by the spell. She couldn't move a muscle. Her sickness didn't even seem to bother her anymore.

"Now, follow me, Slayer. We're going to perform a spell that'll stop your or Faith's successor from ever coming into power."

No longer in control of her own limbs, Buffy followed the priest down the path and out of the park.

Willow watched in the shadows as the priest led Buffy away. Her friend was obviously under the man's spell. Willow had cast several spells while she hid, trying to free her friend, but none of them worked. Whoever this man was, he was a very powerful warlock.

Concerned for her friend, Willow had gone to the park, hoping to meet up with Buffy and take her home if Buffy was really sick. She'd just spotted Buffy facing a vampire on the basketball court when the man appeared. Willow had hid right away.

Whoever it was, she couldn't face him alone. But she needed to find out the location of the priest's hiding place.

She followed them through the park woods. They had gotten fifteen yards before the man chanted something and he and Buffy disappeared.

Willow recognized it as an invisibility spell. But she didn't have a counter spell for it, so she couldn't follow them anymore.

She needed to tell the others. She headed for Giles' apartment.

PART SIX

Giles stood before the Watcher Council in London, dressed in his usual tweed. He recognized several of the members, including Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. The council sat at a half-circular table. Their stares made him a little uneasy, but Giles resisted the urge to clean his glasses and stood proud.

"Ian Gidfrey," the council head spoke.

Giles was confused. His name wasn't Gidfrey. A man stepped up and stood to his left. Giles looked at him. The newcomer had brown hair and was shorter than Giles. Giles recognized him immediately.

It was several years ago when Giles first became a watcher. There had been another watcher, Ian. Giles was assigned as a sort-of student to the watcher, who was only a few years older than himself. However, Giles soon discovered that Ian was making human sacrifices to ancient gods, and told the council. The council kicked Ian out without delay.

I'm reliving it, he realized. It was a dream.

"Ian Gidfrey," the council head repeated. "In accordance with the evidence that has been presented before us, we believe you are unfit to carry out your duty as a Watcher. You are to turn in any journals or texts originally belonging to the council and leave at once. You will never be accepted into the Watchers again."

Giles remembered Ian turning to him and giving him a look of such hatred he had never seen anything like it since.

But, unlike the actual event, the corners of Ian's mouth turned up into a cruel smile.

The scene changed around them both. They were in Giles' apartment. Giles saw an apparition of himself lying on the sofa, moaning in his fever. Anya tended to him while Xander and Willow researched. There was no sign of Buffy.

"Rupert," Ian whispered.

Giles turned. Standing in his kitchen doorway was Ian. He stood before Buffy, who was lying on the floor, just as sick as the Giles on the couch.

Symbols were painted on her chest. Ian had a knife raised above Buffy's stomach. The Slayer was paralyzed, and could do nothing.

Ian looked up at Giles. He laughed, then brought the knife up higher, preparing to strike.

"No!" Giles cried.

"He's coming around!" Anya called.

Giles woke up. He was just as feverish as before, and it hurt to do anything. He glanced up at Xander, Willow, and Anya, who bent over him.

"Giles? Can you hear me? Giles!"

Giles dimly recognized the voice as Xander. He could feel himself slipping back into unconsciousness. He didn't have much time.

"Check…Watcher Journal," he said. "Ian Gidfrey…"

Everything blackened out.

PART SEVEN

Ian Gidfrey, the priest, shed the invisibility spell as soon as he and Buffy entered his hideout. Someone had tried to break his spells in the park, but as soon as he'd gone invisible, the attacks had stopped. He figured it was the little witch that was in the Slayer's group. She'd have a hard time rescuing Buffy, if the Wicca girl found his hiding place.

He'd led the Slayer to the same warehouse he'd used for the first spell. New boxes replaced old ones, evidence that the owner still used it during the day. However, it was his during the night.

His spell supplies were in a large wooden crate in one corner. Gidfrey sat the Slayer down in the middle of a large clearing, in the same spot the harlot had lain in her few remaining hours of life.

He walked around the warehouse, casting spells that would prevent anyone from trying to get inside. Satisfied that his defense system was strong enough, he returned to the clearing.

He fetched some holy chalk from the crate and began to draw a star on the ground around the girl. He drew symbols above and below each of the star’s points, then placed candles on each tip. He didn't light them yet, however. He checked his watch. He had to wait for midnight. He didn't have that long to wait.

"Here's something," Xander announced.

Anya looked over his shoulder at the book in his hands. "What does it say? Does it mention how to reverse the spell?"

When Giles had woken up briefly, they'd immediately started looking for the watcher journal. It seemed the watcher council forgot to take back a few of the journals when they kicked Giles out, because they found it, and Xander started looking through it.

He nodded. "Yeah. It says that twenty years ago, Giles caught Gidfrey making human sacrifices to ancient gods. He told the council, and they kicked him out." He remarked under his breath, "The council actually did something right for once."

"What else does it say?"

"It says that later on Ian had placed a spell on the council, including Giles, although the effects on him weren't as immediate, for some reason. It's identical to what's happening now and to the disease in the village mentioned in that other book." He turned the page. "Here's the reversal spell. Giles found it using the resources the council supplied him with. He reversed the spell and the council rewarded him by promising that he'd get his own Slayer to train."

"What are the ingredients?" Anya asked.

He told her. "For the spell to work, we have to be in close proximity with the person or persons affected by the spell. Well, that should work, 'cause he's right here."

The door opened, and Willow ran in, breathless. "Buffy's been kidnapped!"

"What?" both Xander and Anya asked.

"By who? What happened?" Xander asked.

Willow told them.

Xander checked the book. "Meets the description. It's Gidfrey alright."

"Who?" Willow asked.

Anya and Xander told her what happened.

Xander told her, "Willow, you could check out the Sunnydale hotels, see if he's there."

Willow went to her laptop, which she'd left there overnight, and logged on. Several minutes later, she found him. Triumphantly, she told them, "He's staying at the Sunnydale Motor Lodge," she frowned, "or was. He checked out just a few hours ago."

"We need Giles," Xander handed Willow the watcher journal. "Think you can do this spell, and quickly?"

She looked it over and nodded. "Yeah. Does Giles have any incense?"

"I'm on it," Xander said, jumping up and running up the stairs to Giles' bedroom.

PART EIGHT

The image of his own self lying on his couch in a fever filled Giles' mind, followed by Buffy lying on the floor with Ian standing over her.

"No!" Giles cried out and began running forward, calling for Xander, Anya, and Willow to help him. They didn't hear him. The other Giles lying on the couch seemingly transfixed them.

Giles turned back to Ian and his Slayer, but they were no longer there.

Instead, Giles was staring at some crates. They stood against a tin wall.

He looked around. He was no longer in his apartment. The dream had shifted again to a warehouse down by the docks. Overhead, a skylight displayed the cloudless sky filled with stars.

Giles turned around and looked further down the warehouse. Down an isle, he saw candles glowing. On his guard, he walked in that direction.

He stopped at the end of the isle and peered around the boxes piled there. He saw a large clearing. In the middle of that clearing was Buffy.

Ian appeared, stepping out of the shadows near Giles. He held a spell book and began to chant. Giles was close enough to hear the words. He knew exactly what spell Ian was performing. It filled him with dread.

It wasn't even supposed to exist. Giles, and the rest of the watcher council, had hoped it had been destroyed centuries ago. It was called the Ritual of Reversal. It went against everything the watchers stood for and it would end the Slayer legacy forever.

Giles couldn't let that happen. Rage he hadn't felt since his last confrontation with Ethan Rayne surfaced. He ran out of his hiding place toward Ian, preparing to leap and knock Ian to the ground.

Letting out a fierce war cry, he leapt through the air.

Giles woke with a start, sitting up. He realized his mistake when he felt a sharp pain in his head. His stomach felt queasy.

"Woah, take it easy," Anya said.

Willow and Xander had spell materials around them. They left the materials and walked over to Giles. "How are you, Giles?" Willow asked him.

"Never better," Giles said. He looked at the journal in Willow's hands. "I see you found the Watcher Journal."

"Yeah," Xander said. "But it's not over yet."

He, Willow, and Anya filled Giles in on what happened.

Giles stood up, determined. He felt much better now, and he needed to get his Slayer back.

"Let’s go," Giles said.

"Go where?" Anya asked. "Willow says the guy checked out of his hotel room. We don't even know where to look."

"Yes, we do," Giles said. He gave them a brief summary of his dream.

"What do you mean, it’ll end the Slayer legacy forever?" Xander asked.

"If the spell is performed," Giles began, "and Buffy and Faith die, there will be no Slayers after them. No one else will be chosen to fight the demons and the forces of darkness. But to do that, he has to have a Slayer’s blood."

"He’s going to kill Buffy?"

Giles nodded. "That’s why we have to stop him. If I know Ian, he’ll cast spells to protect the warehouse," he said. "If he’s using the same ones he used twenty years ago, I know how to break them, but only a small area at a time. As for the Ritual of Reversal, there are several things we need that I don’t have to cast the counter-spell. Xander, I need you to run down to the magic shop and buy a few things."

"What about Spike?" Willow asked.

Giles glanced at his bathroom door. "He can stay here, for all I care."

PART NINE

Xander dumped the new supplies on the grass at their feet and stood back.

"I don't think the store owner will be happy to see me again," Xander said. "He gave me a funny look when I asked for two tons of bile."

"Either that or he's wondering why I didn't stop by," Willow commented. She picked up a book and started flipping through the pages. "What was the spell you wanted me to read, Giles?"

Giles took the book and, after flipping through more pages, stopped and handed the book back. He pointed to a section on the page. "This one. It should break through part of the barrier spells. I want you to cast it on the south side. I'll try to distract him if I can. Anya, I want you to cast the same spell on the west side. Xander, you're with Anya. Anya, Willow, wait at least five minutes before starting your spells. When you get in the warehouse, meet each other and perform the other spell, the spell that should release Buffy from whatever magic has been worked on her."

Ian checked his watch. It was midnight. He lit the candles, then picked up a book lying on top of his crate. Then he opened the crate and took out an incense holder.

Opening it up to a marked page, he stepped up to the north point of the star and began to read. Buffy's back was to him. He waved the incense in the air, and it seeped out, spreading in the air.

"Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld, by the power you have bestowed upon me, I have empowered the Slayer and her Watcher. Now I call you, oh mighty goddess, to witness the coming of the Slayers' spirit." He walked to the nearest point to his left. "It will no longer pass from this girl to another, nor from Faith to another…"

He walked to the south-eastern point of the star. He glanced up at the girl sitting in the middle of the star. She stared straight ahead, and although she wasn't looking at him, he could see fear and anger there.

"…but it will retire, and forever dwell in the depths of hell."

He walked over to south-western point.

"There will be no more slayers. The Watchers will no longer have a purpose, and your minions of hell will rule the world without the chosen one to stop them."

He walked over to the western point, the last one.

"May Buffy Summers and Faith feel your wrath for all eternity in the Underworld and let them know they will never have a successor."

After he left each point, the symbols drawn there lit up. All of them were lit now, and all he needed to do was walk back to the northern point, say a few words in Sumerian, and the spell would be complete.

He turned and began to walk.

A fist met his left cheek.

Crying out, Ian fell, dropping the book and incense holder. The symbols stopped glowing, and the candles blew out, signaling that the spell had been broken.

Still lying on the ground, Ian looked up at his attacker. It was Giles.

"D***," was all he could think to say.

Giles kicked him in the gut, and Ian bent forward. But instead of grabbing his stomach, he locked Giles' legs in a scissor hold and pulled Giles to the floor.

After getting through the barrier, Willow, Anya, and Xander met in the southwest corner of the building. They were close enough to see Buffy sitting immobilized in the center of a large five-pointed star. They could also see Giles and Ian fighting.

"Giles could use some help," Xander commented. "Let's give him some."

Quickly, they performed the spell.

Giles rolled out of Ian's hold and got to his feet. Ian was slower and his face met Giles' foot. Ian fell back on his back. Giles bent over to straddle his former teacher, but Ian kicked him in the place it hurts the most.

In pain, Giles took a few steps back. Ian kicked onto his feet and advanced slowly, smiling.

"Not bad, Rupert," he said. "But you've still got a lot to learn."

"Lesson number one," came a voice to his right. "Good guys always come in packs."

Ian turned and saw Buffy, fully recovered, standing nearby. She kicked him in the stomach, and he soared through the air, falling through a few empty crates.

Buffy appeared over him. She gave him a roundhouse kick in the face. "That was for Giles." She kicked him again. "That was for me."

Ian moaned.

Xander, Willow, and Anya ran out into the clearing. Xander handed Buffy some rope, and she tied up the warlock quickly.

"Now what will we do with him?" Willow asked.

"Hopefully something involving leeches and the absence of a penis," Anya said excitedly.

"You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Buffy said, smiling in anticipation.

Giles cleared his throat. "I'll call the Watcher Council. They'll probably want him when they find out what he did."

Ian was gagged, and they headed out the warehouse. After Ian had been put in Giles' car, Buffy turned to the others.

"Thanks, guys," she said. "I thought I was going to die."

"You didn't, though," Willow said.

"I would also like to say thank you," Giles said.

"No problem," Xander said. "Let's go."

"Yes. We'd better bring Ian to my apartment. I'll make sure the Spell of Reversal is destroyed."

Buffy, Ian, and Giles got in Giles' Citroen and drove off and the others headed down the street.

EPILOGUE

Ian glanced at the Slayer sitting in the seat across from him, then at Giles in the driver's seat. He was very angry. He'd find a way to get back at them some day. It was only a matter of time, but he'd have his revenge.

THE END

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